Krugman: NRA an ‘insane organization’

The current debate over guns has revealed the National Rifle Association as an “insane organization,” Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said on Sunday.

The New York Times columnist said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday political roundtable that some pro-gun advocates “have this vision we’re living in a ‘Mad Max’ movie.”

“What strikes me is we've actually gotten a glimpse into the mindset, though, of the pro-gun people and we've seen certainly Wayne LaPierre and some of these others. It's bizarre,” he said. “They have this vision that we're living in a ‘Mad Max’ movie and that nothing can be done about it, that America cannot manage unless everybody's prepared to shoot intruders, that the idea that we have police forces that provide public safety is somehow totally impractical, despite the fact that, you know, that is, in fact, the way we live.”

“So, I think that the terms of the debate have shifted,” he added. “Now the craziness of the extreme pro-gun lobby has been revealed, and that has got to move the debate and got to move the legislation at least to some degree.”

Krugman added that there are “plenty of gun owners who are fine.”

“But the lobbying groups, the NRA, is now revealed as an insane organization, and that matters quite a lot,” he said.